was definitely flattering. “You could be right.”
“Well, you big
perv
,” Jonathan said, “you’d better pull that big, dangerous thing
out of my body, because we both have to be up early and I’m exhausted from the flight.”
Ed pulled out and loped down the hall to the bathroom. He removed the condom,
cleaned up, and wet a clean white washcloth with warm, soapy water. When he brought
the cloth back to the bedroom, Jonathan took it and wiped his flat torso clean. Then he
got up on the bed and fluffed the pillows. He smoothed out the covers and tightened the
sheets. And when everything was neat and orderly and perfect, he climbed into the bed and pulled the covers up to his chest. He smiled at Ed and patted the mattress. “Come to
bed and put your arms around me. You must be tired, too, after the workout we just had.”
Ed’s head jerked back and he stood frozen. Evidently, Jonathan assumed he’d be
spending the night with him. “Ah, well,” Ed said, “Here’s the thing. I thought you’d be
going back to your hotel, is all.” He didn’t look him in the eye. He just stood there, with
his penis hanging limp, rubbing his jaw with his right hand.
Jonathan hesitated for a moment, then tightened his lips and bolted from the bed.
He crossed to the pile of clothes he’d left at the foot. He laughed and shook his head.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “I just assumed that…it’s my mistake. I shouldn’t have been so
presumptuous. I’ll leave right now so you can go to bed all alone tonight. Don’t worry. I
don’t have to be told more than once when it’s time to leave.”
Ed took a deep breath and sighed. He sounded upset. “You’re not mad or anything,
are you?”
Jonathan moved fast. He pulled up his jeans and shoved his socks into his pockets.
Then he slipped his bare feet into his shoes and said, “Of course not. Why should I be
mad? You fuck me like you’ve just been released from prison, we have what I think is the
best sex ever, and then you kick me out of your house. You’re a real charmer, you are, Ed
Richardson. I’m just the luckiest son-of-a-bitch in the world when it comes to men.” He
put his sport jacket on without his shirt; he rolled the shirt into a ball and shoved it under
his arm.
“I didn’t mean to get you upset,” Ed said. He stood there in the middle of the
room, with his arms spread out and a confused expression on his face. “I just thought it
would be better if we keep things professional.” “You’re right,” Jonathan said. “Tomorrow we go back to being platonic again.
We got this out of the way and we can move on.” Then he reached into his pocket for his
car keys and went to the door. He turned and said, “I’ll see you in the morning. No need
to walk me to the door.”
Ed scratched his balls and sat down on the edge of the bed. He held his head in his
hands and yawned. When he heard Jonathan’s shoes clicking through the hall and down
the stairs, he almost jumped up and ran after him. But he just sat there staring at a photo
of Jake on his nightstand instead. He’d taken that photo right after Jake had come down
from a hot air balloon ride. The front door slammed shut and a car out front screeched
away from the curb. Ed smacked his forehead with the heel of his hand and sighed.
Chapter Five
While Ed’s contractor forced a large screw into a kitchen cabinet, Jonathan smiled
at the camera and said, “Join us next time to see what happens with Dr. Ed Richardson’s
Dream Away
kitchen. You won’t want to miss this.”
He was baiting his viewers. There had been a slight problem with the black
granite counters Ed had chosen. It was nothing serious, but he knew it was important to
create a certain amount of conflict for the show to be exciting. It was Friday and they’d
been filming for a week. So far, nothing had gone wrong. The contractors had shown up
on time, all the materials had arrived in perfect condition, and the entire kitchen had been
gutted and was ready to be rebuilt.
The camera shut down and the crew began to wrap up for the day. Ed was in the
living room sanding the wooden floor and Noah sat on the center island in the kitchen
watching Jonathan work. Tucker rested beside his water bowl, waiting for his dinner. It
was almost six o’clock in the evening, and it had been a long week.
Jonathan smiled at Noah and asked, “How as school today, buddy?” He looked
too formal in his stuffy uniform. The gray blazer and red tie stood out in the midst of the
construction workers. Jonathan always wore something casual during the construction
process of the show so he’d blend in with the atmosphere. He was wearing jeans, work
boots, and a red T-shirt that day.
Noah’s brown oxfords swung back and forth. He stared at Jonathan and said, “It
was okay.” “Just okay?” He didn’t ask to be polite. He really wanted to know. In the past five
days since he’d been working there, Jonathan had followed him around every day after
school. He’d been curious about the cameras; he’d asked smart questions about how they
edited all the clips. The better Jonathan got to know him, the more he liked him.
“It’s school,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. Then he jumped down from the
counter and asked, “Hey, you wanna go to dinner with us tonight? My dad’s taking us out
later. We’re going to pick Lisa up on the way.”
Before Jonathan could answer, Ed said, “It’s nothing fancy. Just a little place on
Haight Street, a tapas bar. You’re more than welcome to join us.” He was leaning in the
doorway, between the kitchen and the dining room, with his arms raised and his elbows
against the door frame. He didn’t know his shirt had risen and Jonathan could see his bare
stomach. He was wearing loose painter jeans, and the elastic band from his boxer shorts
was showing. The big fool had no idea how good he looked.
Jonathan smiled, then hesitated. The project was going well, but things were still a
bit awkward between them. They treated each other too cautiously, as if the wrong word
would ignite an explosion. He had a feeling Ed had been avoiding him all week, which
was a good thing. After that last time they’d had sex, and Ed had asked him to leave,
Jonathan had sworn to himself that if Ed Richardson so much as touched him with the tip
of his finger, he’d set him straight.
“C’mon,” Noah said. “You’ll like the food. And Lisa’s dying to meet you.”
He didn’t want to disappoint Noah and he was curious about Lisa, so he shrugged
his shoulders and said, “I love a good tapas bar. I go to one in New York all the time with my boyfriend, Mike.” This was the first time he’d mentioned he had a boyfriend. It was
the first time he’d mentioned anything about his personal life.
Ed’s eyebrows went up and his arms went down. He shoved his hands into his
pockets and squared his shoulders. “I’ll just go upstairs and clean up. Noah, you feed
Tucker and walk him before we drop him off at the guest house.” He didn’t seem the
least bit curious about the fact that Jonathan had a boyfriend.
“Can I go like this?” Jonathan asked. “Or should I change first?”
Ed looked him up and down fast. “Don’t be ridiculous. You look fine. This place
is very casual. I’m the one covered in sawdust.” Then he left the kitchen and upstairs to
his bedroom.
Forty-five minutes later, Ed came downstairs wearing a clean white polo shirt, tan
slacks, and brown shoes. There was a rust suede jacket over his arm. His dark blond hair
was still damp and he smelled like shaving cream. This was the first time Jonathan had
seen him wear something other than jeans and sneakers. He wanted to tell him he looked
really good, but he didn’t. Instead he said, “I think I should follow you guys in my own
car.”
Noah opened the front door and said, “You’d better come with us. Parking is hard
there. My Dad can drop you off here later for your car.” Then he hooked the leash to
Tucker’s collar and skipped out the door.
Jonathan waited to hear what Ed had to say about this, but Ed was busy looking
for his car keys on a table in the hallway and he wasn’t paying attention. So he put on his
black leather jacket and followed Noah out to the car. Even though November was one of the best weather months of the year in San
Francisco, there was a chilly breeze that night. Jonathan was glad he’d worn a jacket
because they had to walk a few blocks to the restaurant. The restaurant was crowded and
small, but the food was excellent.
He loved Ed’s best friend, Lisa. The minute she opened her mouth to speak and
he heard her New York accent, a calm, familiar feeling settled over him. She was smart,
beautiful, and had a sense of style that made her stand out in San Francisco. In the midst
of so many women wearing baggy dresses down to their ankles and chunky Birkenstocks
on their feet, she wore a black leather miniskirt and pointy stilettos. And she didn’t seem
to care about fitting in with the others. Her blond hair was simple: long and straight and
parted dead center. And you had to look closely to even guess she was in her mid-thirties.
When a woman in a baggy calico dress and gray hair down to her shoulders at the
table next to them asked if the food was organic, Lisa rolled her eyes and gave Ed a look.
Then she whispered across the table, mocking the woman to Ed, “No, it’s not organic,
you dumb and pretentious bitch…it’s made out of plastic.” They were sitting at a table
for four, with Noah and Lisa on one side and Ed and Jonathan on the other. Lisa was
directly across from Jonathan.
Noah laughed and Jonathan’s eyebrows went up. Ed smiled and said, “You have
to forgive Lisa. She goes into shock when she’s out here. The woman sitting next to us is
her worst nightmare: a classic, laid-back, San Francisco left-wing liberal who was most
likely a hippie back in the sixties.”
“Don’t you like organic food?” Jonathan asked. What did he know? He’d never
really thought much about it. There was a nice little grocery store in his neighborhood back in New York that had recently started carrying organic chicken. He’d tried some,
but couldn’t tell the difference.
Lisa smiled and smoothed out the napkin on her lap. Then she looked at the
woman next to her and rolled her eyes again. “It’s not that,” she said, speaking with a
hushed voice, “I’m all for eating chemical-free foods, but some people take it to the limit.
Did you see the look on the poor waiter’s face? I’d like to club her with an organic
sausage, then wrap it around her throat.”
Noah laughed again, and Jonathan cleared his throat. Noah seemed to be taking
all this in his stride. He concentrated on his food, but didn’t miss a word that was said.
“And don’t get her started on politics,” Ed said. “You’ll never forgive yourself.”
“Politics?” Jonathan asked. He’d never been a very political person. He voted in
all the major elections, and usually it was for the person he thought cared the most about
gay issues.
“Lisa is a die-hard Hillary Clinton supporter,” Ed said. “You don’t want to go
there. She still hasn’t forgiven the DNC for not nominating Hillary.” Ed was smiling
wide now, baiting Lisa to see how far he could go before she exploded into a political
tirade. “And please, whatever you do, don’t mention the name Nancy Pelosi.” Clearly, he
was having fun with her and he wasn’t getting into any serious political discussions.
But when Lisa heard him mention Nancy Pelosi, she clenched her fists and leaned
forward. Then she hesitated, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She smiled and said,
“Oh no you don’t, you’re not hooking me into a political discussion tonight. I don’t
discuss politics anymore. It’s my new rule.” Then the conversation switched to Jonathan. Lisa wanted to know where he lived
in New York, how long he’d been working in television and how he’d managed to land
the job as host of
Dream Away
. He told her he’d always intended to be a journalist, but
that he’d auditioned for
Dream Away
on a whim and somehow managed to get the job.
He brushed it all off as pure luck and being in the right place at the right time. When he
told her where his apartment was, it turned out that Lisa had a good friend who lived in
his neighborhood.
Ed sat there staring at his dinner plate through all this, eating his food and
listening to every word, glancing back and forth while they talked. His face was
expressionless; he didn’t raise an eyebrow or move his lips. But when she asked Jonathan
if he had a partner or anyone special in New York, Ed’s head went up and he almost
